Features of the metabolic syndrome and the risk of cardiovascular disease

Abstract

The metabolic syndrome is being increasingly recognized as an important risk factor for cardiovascular disease (CVD). While several clinical definitions have been proposed to identify patients with this syndrome, additional metabolic markers may be considered to improve one's ability to assess and predict the risk of CVD in this population. The objective of this short review is to provide an overview of the risk of CVD associated with specific features of the metabolic syndrome. The extent to which these markers may be used one day in clinical practice in primary prevention is also briefly discussed.

Keywords: :

• Metabolic syndrome
• dyslipidemia
• LDL size
• waist girth
• obesity

Acknowledgements

We would like to thank Sophie Desroches for her critical review of this paper. Benoît Lamarche is the recipient of a Canada Research Chair in Nutrition, functional foods and cardiovascular health. Annie St-Pierre is a recipient of a training fellowship from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada and the Fonds de la recherché en santé du Québec.